Clients withdrew an estimated $3.1 billion from Pacific
Investment Management Co.’s $232 billion bond fund, formerly the
world’s largest mutual fund, Chicago-based Morningstar said in
an e-mail today. Industrywide, investors returned to bond funds,
putting an estimated $11.6 billion into bond funds last month
through March 19, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Gross’s fund advanced 1.3 percent this year through March
31, trailing 73 percent of peers, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. In March, the fund fell 0.6 percent to trail 95
percent of peers as Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen
outlined plans to increase interest rates, undermining a bet by
Gross.

“Much of the focus of flows data is centered on investor
concern with core bond strategies, but there is also
considerable interest from institutional and retail investors in
fixed-income strategies which provide a specific solution,
protect against rising rates and offer diversification,
liquidity and income -- all critical components of any
diversified portfolio,” Mark Porterfield, a spokesman for
Newport Beach, California-based Pimco, said in an e-mail.

Fund Performance

Investors pulled a record $41.1 billion from Pimco Total
Return in 2013, according to Morningstar. They withdrew $3.5
billion in January and $1.6 billion in February, Morningstar
said.

Over the past five years, Pimco Total Return advanced at an
annual 6.9 percent, ahead of 57 percent of similarly managed
funds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Morningstar estimates deposits or withdrawals for mutual
funds by computing the change in assets on a monthly basis that
isn’t accounted for by performance. The fund’s actual
withdrawals or deposits may differ from Morningstar’s estimates
because of the timing of purchases and redemptions or dividend
distributions.